Evelyn Allemani inspired me to want to improve my community. I'll try to pass her message along to you.

She was a wonderful representative of the America in Bloom organization, who spoke from the heart. I didn't come away with a new landscape for my yard, but rather, I came away with 3 important and unexpected messages:

Beautifying your community doesn't just make it more pleasant, it can have huge economic impact.

Projects that had significant impact were simple ideas, that people could rally around.

It's more than flowers and landscaping. It also includes preserving your history / heritage, and minimizing your environmental impact, and having a making a good overall impression (e.g. clean, no graffiti, welcoming).

Evelyn demonstrated these ideas with photos and examples from other cities:

In the Amish area of Indiana, they planted flowerbeds to look like giant quilts on the hillside. This was a simple idea that featured their heritage. They started the Quilt Garden Trail. Now bus loads of tourists come to see the flower quilts, bringing money to the town, as they stay in hotels and eat at restaurants.

Another town had blighted, run-down, deserted alleys. They developed a plan to plant flowers and beautify their community one alley at a time. The community banded together to make the improvements. As each alley was completed, it became a vibrant and active asset. This provided the momentum to complete all the alleys, and property values increased dramatically.

Show You Care - Make A Difference in Warrenville

There are two ways to get involved on Wed. February 11 at 7 pm:

Warrenville In Bloom at the library: Our town is entering the American in Bloom contest in 2015, and the planning process starts now. Come to share your ideas and get in on the ground floor. Interested, but can't come? Contact Dorothy Deer (d.deer@comcast.net)

Warrenville Community Club (WCC) at Two Brothers: Meet friends and share a beer or dinner (optional) at the regular 2nd Wed social meeting. When Warrenville in Bloom comes up with their plan, the WCC volunteers will help implement the plan. In the mean time, there are other volunteer opportunities. Please contact sue@warrenville.info if you are coming (so we get a big enough table), or if you would like your name added to the mailing list.

Note: The meetings will not overlap every month. This is a one month scheduling problem.Quilt Garden images courtesy of AmishCountry.org

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